WASHINGTON — It’s not time to put Wayne Rooney out to pasture just yet.

The legendary former England and Manchester United star scored a spectacular 18th-minute free kick, a curling effort that fooled Alex Bono and the goal stood up in D.C. United’s 1-0 victory at sparkling new Audi Field.

Rooney is only 32 and by no means washed up. The goal was his 10th in 16th starts for surging D.C. and the club has gone 10-3-3 in those Rooney appearances, rocketing up from the bottom of the conference to only a point behind fifth-place Columbus.

Missing the bulk of it’s offence, Toronto could not get much going and failed to slow down the red hot home side, despite a solid effort. TFC had a shots, possession and duels won edge at halftime, but Rooney’s magic, after Michael Bradley had taken down D.C.’s Zoltan Stieber to draw the free kick, stood up.

D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid nearly left the game due to an injury, but stayed in and posted the shutout. He wasn’t tested often, but Hamid did make a nice save in the seventh minute to deny a Lucas Janson header and an even better one to stop a Nick Hagglund header off of a Bradley corner kick.

“I was proud of our guys, (they) worked hard. I thought they in many ways outplayed them,” TFC head coach Greg Vanney said after the game.

“We lacked being dangerous in the final third, but we still got to some great spots … Probably deserved more out of it but this is a team, D.C. that’s finding a way to win games.” D.C. continued to put the heat on the Montreal Impact, Toronto’s opponent in Montreal on Sunday. The team is four points ahead and both have two matches remaining.

However, Bradley said he takes no joy in potentially playing the role of spoiler, even against a rival.

Toronto fell to 9-17-6 and just 1-16-1 when allowing the first goal. The Reds remain without a victory (0-13-1) when trailing at halftime, while D.C. improved to 12-2-2 at home.

Vanney appeared to think Bono could have done better on the goal.

“The free kick goal, it’s a great strike, but it just can’t go in the back of our net from that distance, that’s just my opinion,” Vanney said.

LINEUP A MISH-MASH Reds captain Bradley was in the starting lineup despite playing some second-half minutes in Tuesday night’s 1-1 U.S. draw with Peru in Connecticut.

For Bradley it was a no-brainer to be on the field with his teammates.

“I was excited to play. I love to play. When you take all the other, when you pull away all the bulls_, all the trophies, losses, ups, downs, when you take all that away, I can’t speak for anybody else, but I do this because I love the game. I love to play,” Bradley said when asked by the Toronto Sun.

“Given that I only played a few minutes last night, it seemed like a given that I was going to get here this morning and be ready to go.” Bradley hopped on a plane and Vanney wasn’t at all surprised.

“Listen, Michael is all in all the time, so, that’s the way he does things. Whether that’s during the training week or in every week we play, he’s always in for the battle and he’s always in for the long haul,” Vanney said.

“There’s never a question of that with Michael. He was important tonight and helped us in many ways control this game and play well.” Fellow Toronto starting midfielder Marky Delgado played the full 90 minutes for the Americans, so understandably went home to Toronto instead of on to D.C.

Toronto was without its four best attackers though, with Jozy Altidore (ankle) and Victor Vazquez (knee surgery) out due to injuries and Jonathan Osorio and Sebastian Giovinco away due to their recent national team duties. Defender Chris Mavinga was held out for precautionary reasons.

MOOR RETURNS TFC did get veteran defender Drew Moor back in the starting XI. Moor has missed nearly the entire season after tearing his quad back in April, including five of the past six games after a brief return that resulted in another injury.

Moor brought some stability to the backline that has been sorely absent in 2018.

“It was good to have Drew back there. The three of them (Moor, Nick Hagglund and Eriq Zavaleta) haven’t played much together. By and large we managed their attack, between Rooney, the way he (and others) combine, there’s a lot to deal with. I thought the guys did well,” Vanney said.

“(Moor’s) good between those two guys just to help connect them and link them.”

CORNER KICKS

Bradley’s appearance for the U.S. was his 142nd cap, moving him past former teammate Clint Dempsey, behind only Cobi Jones (164) and Landon Donovan (157) for the all-time appearance record for the Red White and Blue … Forward Ayo Akinola saw his first action since the end of July, subbing in for the final 20+ minutes and Vanney and Bradley liked what they saw from young midfielder Liam Fraser.

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